"The Man with Two Wives" is the story of Bill Harding, one-time novelist and now publishing manager working for his father-in-law, the head of a large publishing empire. The web of relationships and circumstances in the novel are fairly complex for a book this size--too complex to really do it justice with a short synopsis. But what the hell, I'm going to try anyway.

Bill was once married to Angelica, whom he married shortly after publishing his first book. They had a tumultuous love affair, along with a child, and got divorced three years later. Shortly afterward bill met and married Betsy, dowdy daughter of C.J. Callingham, the publishing emperor mentioned earlier. Another struggling (and physically abusive) novelist is dating both Bill's ex-wife and C.J.'s other daughter, Bill's sister-in-law. When said artist winds up murdered, Bill finds himself in an increasingly tangled web of lies as he tries to balance protecting his ex-wife (whom he still loves) and saving his sister-in-law, upon which his meal ticket depends. Eventually he decides to tell the truth, and in doing so puts his family and job on the line. But even when he does, he finds that no one believes him, which leaves it up to Billy-boy to discover who the real murderer is. There's a little more to it than that, but overall that's the gist.

Anyhow, anyone who knows me knows that I love this type of book. It's your typical 1950s-60s crime story involving an innocent, unlikely protagonist thrown into a murder investigation the police are two incompetent to solve. Also a hallmark of the genre are Bill's rampant fears and musings, the inner turmoil over who he really loves, whether he should be a lap dog to his father-in-law or not, and angst over when the police are going to come after him. It actually gets kind of annoying after a while, but after a hundred pages or so most of that goes away. Overall, though, it's pretty typical for the genre and period. There's nothing new or innovative here, but that isn't to say it doesn't have any value. I enjoyed it quite a lot, but then again, I like the genre. I like the clean, distinct language. I like the characterizations and the plots. I *really* like the cover art. It straddles the line between the Golden Age of Detective Fiction and the pulp sleaze crime novels I love so much. For other readers the mileage may vary, but for me it was a fast, enjoyable read. That's why I gave it 3 1/2 stars. ( )